creativityUNLEASHED by traci bautista

day 10 {24} HOLIDAY inspirations 2011: crochet garland

Inspired by holiday decor at Anthropologie, this year I decided to make handmade crocheted garland for our Christmas tree. I used a variety of yarns and created colorful pompoms, simple single stitched crochet designs along with finger crochet for larger pieces of garland. Here are a few snapshots of our tree...

what did you make for your tree this year? Share a link to a photo or blog post in the comments..I would love to see what your handmade holiday creations... 

happy creating..xoxo~treiC

INSPIRATION: an artful garden

{a few snapshots from my garden} 

Lately, my inspiration has been coming from choosing the plants, flowers and containers that grace my lanai garden. I've been scouring the local nurseries and garden centers for unique flora with vibrant colors. I've been experimenting with mixtures of organic potting soil, worm castings and organic fertalizer. Spending a little time each day to care for my garden. It really feels like I'm settling into my new home..my studio is almost all set up and now I can spend time cultivating my garden.

Really...it's been a LONG time since I've actually felt settled and spent time at home. For the past 8 years its' been a constant life of packing and unpacking..to the airport and off to the next city..on the move from place to place. So this is a nice welcome change of pace.

Now I get a little more time for me, to get back into the things that I love to do besides my art. I've been enjoying designing and putting together the containers for my garden. I love the rich colors of foliage of heuchera plants and the long skinny branches that spring mini buds and flower "bells". One of the containers has collage of a deep burgundy heuchera with hints of green with tiny pink flowers a nice contrast from the bright yellow/greens of the vinca vine and Pistache and other greenery/grass that spills over the sides. A few of my faves that are making an appearance in my garden now are the gorgeous "Joey" plant, Graffiti Double Red {an exotic geranium}..of course I couldn't pass that up :) and a few different tomato plants, peppers, strawberries and Tyler's bonsai trees. Also, I have a little obession collecting interesting containers to display in the garden. I found the vintage craftsman metal tool box and a few ceramic pots at Creative ReUse in Berkeley.

the strawberries are flowering.

tomatoes are coming too..little yellow flowers are blooming. 

hope you enjoy a little peek into my artful garden...xo~treiC

day 18 {24} HOLIDAY inspirations: a RECYCLED cardboard XMAS tree

It's the day after Christmas and I hope you all enjoyed your holiday with loved ones, holiday service, great food and lots of presents. It was my first Christmas home in the past seven years and I had a wonderful day with Tyler and visiting family. I actually took a couple days off..NO COMPUTER! So back to finishing up the final week in my {24} HOLIDAY inspirations series.

I thought it would be fun to share mine & Tyler's creative Xmas tree project in photos. what can you do with a creative vision, a simple sketch without measurements and three big cardboard boxes?

build a cardboard christmas tree?!? 

Since I returned from Hawaii a week before Christmas it didn't make sense to buy a fresh tree {btw, which I adore} and after having no luck finding a vintage foil tree, I decided I should just make my tree! 

I had a stack of empty cardboard boxes sitting in my studio and thought what better material to create with? I brainstormed with my sweetie Tyler and he sketched out the idea and helped me cut out the cardboard.

What started as a simple sketch and vision morphed into layers of of folded, torn, twisted and sculptured cardboard as we put the pieces together. that's the beauty of the creative process that I teach in all my workshops...be FREE and open to PLAYING. a piece of art might start in one direction but let it flow naturally and don't worry..just have fun making it!

As we were building the tree, the initial three stacks of cardboard tied with hemp string didn't seem to look like a christmas tree more like a cake. so I added triangle strips of cardboard in between each layer which were secured with a hot glue gun....and the transformation begun!
 
The cardboard tree without decoration was a little too minimalistic for me, so I added some of the painted cardboard I created with my handmade holiday stamps and draped my stitched leaf felt trim, colorful FABRIC garland, paper lollipops and wrapped the tree with white iridescent tinsel garland.

oh..and we had one store bought ornament..the skiing turquoise penguin!

we added hot pink LED lights..here's what the tree looks like with different lighting. {from left to right above..incandescent lights, just the pink LEDs, and in natural daylight}

hanging on the tree...a HANDMADE gift envelope for my nephew. {the envelope was made from a Trader Joe's grocery bag..I LOVE the snowman illustration...perfect all I had to do was cut and stitch!} so much better than store bought :)

<3...happy holidays!

p.s. don't forget to enter my Simplicity Rotary Cutter and Embosser HOLIDAY GIVEAWAY by midnight tonight!!

xoxo~treiC